


Lethal White Robots

by SentientStratofortress



Category: ADAMS Douglas - Works, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Aliens, Cricket, Crossover, Death, Gen, Homeworld (Steven Universe), Lasers, Mecha, Robots, Science Fiction, Space Flight, Space Opera, Spaceships, Sports, Technology, War, krikkit, krikkit robots - Freeform, lethal white robots, scientists - Freeform, supernova
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 19:06:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10837521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SentientStratofortress/pseuds/SentientStratofortress
Summary: When Steven takes up playing cricket, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl decide to tell him about the game's dark origins; each of the Crystal Gems tell him of how they defended Homeworld in part of an epic galactic-wide war that humans appropriated into a popular sport.





	Lethal White Robots

Steven stood in front of a wicket, holding a cricket bat near the sand of Beach City's beach. His eyes were focused on Connie, who held a small wooden ball. Connie, meanwhile, was wearing a white hat, and had her eyes focused on Steven. She ran forward, and hurled the ball towards him. Steven readied the bat to hit the ball with as much force as he could muster, but became distracted by the rather familiar sound of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl frantically shouting, “Steven!”

“Huh?” Steven turned to face the three of them, who rushed down to him from their house's wooden deck. The ball bounced along the sand, past Steven's feet. Lion caught the ball in his teeth and returned it to Connie.

“That's not in good taste,” said Pearl slowly.

“What do you mean?” Asked Steven, “this tea tastes perfect.” He pulled a cup of tea from seemingly nowhere and took a sip of it, “you should try playing cricket sometime. It's the only sport with this many tea breaks.”

Amethyst gaped, “they, made a game out of it?!”

“I agree. It's not in good taste,” said Garnet.

“Where did you find out about this, um, game?” Asked Pearl.

“Connie told me about it,” said Steven.

“That's right,” Connie stepped beside Steven, holding the cricket ball in her hand, “cricket is quite easy really. Steven is the batsman, I'm the bowler and umpire, and Lion is the fielder. Steven's just hit the ball past his boundary of the field, so he's just been awarded six runs.”

Steve held both his arms up in the air, “yaay! Six runs,” he said in naive elation, “is that good?”

“Do you know where this game comes from?” Garnet demanded.

Steven considered the question for a moment, before answering, “Britain, I think.”

Connie chimed back into the conversation, “but it spread throughout the world thanks to imperialism.”

“Go home, Connie. Take your cricket paraphernalia with you. We need to have a talk with Steven,” said Garnet grimly.

Connie and Steven exchanged looks of perplexity. Connie shrugged, “probably another gem thing. Guess I'll talk to you later.”

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl walked Steven back to their house. Lion followed behind. As soon as Steven entered through the front door, he turned to the three crystal gems. “Okay, what gives?” He sounded as though he was trying to be mature, but they could tell that he was confused and flustered, “what's wrong with me and Connie playing cricket?”

Pearl sat down on the sofa, and gestured for Steven to sit next to her, which he did. Amethyst sat next to him, while Garnet sat on the floor. “That game you were playing, it...” Pearl's voice trailed away.

“...it's based on true events,” Amethyst completed Pearl's sentence.

“That's right,” Pearl nodded, “you see, Steven. The universe was a much more turbulent place, billions of years ago. Supernovae burst, dispersing the foundations for life across galaxies. Nebulae condensed into solar systems, perilous to any spacecraft venturing too close. Supermassive black holes formed, keeping galaxies in place around them. And then there was the time all life was almost wiped out by hoards of lethal white robots, created by the people of Krikkit.”

“But, why?” Steven asked to no gem in particular.

“The people of Krikkit eventually found out there was a vast universe teaming with life and opportunity beyond the dust cloud that surrounded their small planet. They didn't like it,” said Garnet.

“So, you three fought those robots,” said Steven.

“We did,” said Garnet proudly, and began her recollection of the battle she had participated in:

_Base 312 was being overrun. I had never experienced such terror and malevolence. There was nothing I could do except my job, among the confusion and risk of being pulverized at any moment. I ran through the corridors of Base 312, clutching my standard-issue ion laser pistol as tightly as I could. I had never even seen one of the white robots, and most gems who had seen one never lived to give a full description of one. All I knew was their colour. I looked down at my weak laser, at best hoping it would weaken one of the robots enough ti disable it, if I knew where any weak points were._

_Millions of gems were reported dead already. While at Base 312, we were still readying our spacecraft for combat. At the time, 'millions' was just a vague, large number. There was no time for me to stop and think of the true extent of all those losses. Innocent beings that had friendships, aspirations, and gems counting on them, were gone. Their stories were cut painfully short, and never to be told._

_In the hours since Homeworld was attacked, the white robots had become a bogeyman to the personnel of Base 312. We barely knew what they looked like, or their exact locations, but we were afraid of them. It's okay for someone to admit that they're afraid. Fear is just an understanding of the gravity of the situation._

_I reached the spacecraft hangar. As a pilot, and needed to get up there and fight. I was livid, and desperate to fend off this threat. If I was to die, I'd rather die in a cockpit than cowering on the ground._

_The spacecraft were lined up in the hangar, dripping with deicing fluid and undercarriage tires set firmly into catapult tracks. Those spacecraft were YK-502Cs, manufactured by Crystalite Heavy Industries up on Homeworld's Great Northern Mountains. The KY-502 was a heavy transporter, but the YK-502C was the gunship variant. I'd only ever flown the transporter, ferrying supplies from factories to installations such as Base 312. I arrived there the day before the robots attacked._

_Footsteps, metallic and heavy, echoed through one of the corridors. The blast-proof doors fell closed. I could hear their intricate locking mechanisms click into place. Ion rifles and turrets, wielded by the base's security forces, were all poised at the final blast-proof door before the hangar. Everything became oddly silent. All I could hear was the rhythmic alarm; a warning of the impending doom._

_All blast-proof doors were blown away in a fraction of a second, crushing any gem who stood in the way. I dove to the cold floor, and looked up in time to see a spectrum of lasers between the security forces and a cloud of metal dust swept up by the blast-proof doors' destruction. A single robot emerged from the dust. It was at least nine feet tall, featured two red lasers on its dark wire mesh of a face, arms long enough to drag on the floor with hydraulic joints, and hands like Swiss army knives. It lunged for the nearest gem, taking her by the neck in its long arm. All weapons were fixed on the robot, but none seemed to slow it down. The robot lifted its other hand, switching through an array of tools, until the hand resembled a set of talons. It reached for the gemstone on her chest, and plucked it from her body. She screamed, glitching out. The rest of the security forces looked on in shock. The gemstone was crushed into dust within those strong talons._

_The robot then lowered its arms and turned to the rest of the gems, as though to ask, “who's next?”_

_I felt a hand on my shoulder, and rolled over as fast as I could to face an oncoming threat. Instead, the hand belonged to a gem. Her name, Carbon, was stitched to her green flight suit. “Get up! Can you fly a gunship?” Asked Carbon frantically, she grabbed my arm, pulling me up off the floor and away from the battle between the security forces and the lethal white robot._

_“There's more! On the right!” I heard someone cry out in terror._

_“I can fly anything,” I told her._

_“Get into the fifth gunship in line. I'm that ship's chief gunner. The pilots are dead,” said Carbon frantically, running towards her gunship._

_“You're in luck, I'm a fusion,” I said, fueled by adrenaline._

_The YK-502C gunships were shaped like arrowheads, 120 meters long and 60 meters wide. The cockpit was located in the aft, atop the twin vertical stabilizers. The cockpit, designed to be operated by two gems, featured heads-up displays, helmet-mounted displays and translucent holographic switches and gauges. I de-fuzed into Sapphire and Ruby. Sapphire took the left seat in the cockpit, and Ruby took the right. As soon as they donned our helmets, they heard a sound that I still hear in my dreams, “scramble! Scramble! Scramble!”_

_The gunships ahead of us powered up, and sped out of the hangar. We waited five seconds to clear the wake turbulence from the gunship ahead of us, then powered up all 6 engines. The gunship broke the sound barrier before it exited the hangar. We ascended above the atmosphere and straight towards a formation of Krikkit warships. Carbon and 20 other gunners waited to unleash hell on whatever waited for us above Homeworld's atmosphere._

_Driving any kind of vehicle is like fusing with a gem, and the Crystalite YK-502C gunship was no exception. This one was named Black Hole's Big Sister by her recently deceased pilots, a name which I quite like. Sapphire and Ruby communicated commands as clearly as they could through the cockpit, and felt as though the gunship would communicate back to them._

_Once above the clouds, the sky became dark, and the armada came into view out before them. Sapphire and Ruby's eyes darted left and right, Staring out the cockpit's broad window in an attempt to make sense of such chaos. Lattices of burning hot lasers stretched across the open void. Ships exploded in every direction. Some of them were of gem design, while some were sleek, white and alien. Scarily of all, three of them peeled away from the formation and fired up their engines intercept us._

_A squadron of fast gem space fighters sped ahead, ready to soften up the white spaceships for us, when white space fighters materialized and hurtled towards our fighters. There was nothing I could do except look on as the massacre unfolded. Gem space fighters couldn't outmaneuver them and were promptly gunned down. Robots equipped with rocket packs were deployed from the nearby larger spaceships to swoop down, rip gems from the cockpits of fighters that survived the first melee, and crush their gemstones. I watched one nearby punch open a cockpit canopy and grab the pilot as though forcing it into a fusion dance._

_Ruby swung the gunship around prematurely, breaking formation to allow the gunners to get a good shot at any of the white spaceships. “Don't break formation!” Shouted Carbon's voice on the intercom as gunships reached firing range. Lines of ion cannons and torpedoes shot broadside, causing white spaceships to crumple and slow._

_“It's working,” Ruby gasped. Multiple explosions erupted from within one of the targeted spaceships as its engines flamed out. Another couple of white spaceships exploded, spreading debris into Homeworld's orbit._

_Warning alarms sounded from within the gunship's cockpit. Ruby and Sapphire skimmed the instrument panels. The gunship's 360 degree pulse-dopplar radar had picked up at least 30 bogeys behind it. “Bandits at 06. Split tactica-!” The sentence was cut off from one of the gunships attempting to turn into the oncoming autonomous white robotic fighters. A fire warning blared in the cockpit. The fighters swooped past the window, dropping torpedoes as they went. All six engines were failing simultaneously._

_“We're hit. Abandon ship,” came the command from Carbon over the intercom._

_“No,” said Ruby, picking up the intercom, “we can reStart the engines. We can still fight.” Her protest went ignored among the panic. Escape pods ejected from the belly of the gunship, only to be picked apart by fighters._

_“Can we really reStart the engines?” Asked Sapphire._

_“I hope,” said Ruby, already referring to the engine reStart checklist. Without any thrust to vector the gunship's trajectory, there was nothing the two of them could do to counter Homeworld's gravity which was already taking hold._

_“Move all throttles to idle...” Ruby began, and Sapphire fulfilled her request. They then became distracted as the cabin lost all air pressure. Bulkhead doors shut automatically, but Sapphire and Ruby knew their helmets would protect them from hypoxia._

_“We're being boarded, that's what caused the loss of cabin pressure,” said Sapphire grimly, reading all necessary information from the instrument panel, “one of the robots has entered through escape pod hatch 1.”_

_Sapphire and Ruby looked at each other as the battle-damaged gunship hurtled down to Homeworld at tremendous speed, exterior panels burning and snapping off as it entered the atmosphere. They knew that the ensuing crash would probably kill both of them, if the robot on board wouldn't kill them first, and so did the only thing they could: they danced._

_Gems are stronger together, so they danced in the depressurized cockpit, among the warning alarms and strewn checklists. They danced until I was formed; Garnet was back. I resolutely grabbed the cockpit's ion laser pistol from its wall holster, and lunged for the nearest seat. Whether the crash or the robot arrived first, I would be as ready as I could be._

_The cockpit door was kicked down mere seconds later, and the robot strode into the cockpit. Glancing at the altimeter, I saw that we still had 15000 feet of altitude left. I stood up and rolled to the right to avoid one of the robot's arms, aiming the ion pistol and shooting, aiming for the head. The first two shots missed, but the third hit the target. It had no effect, and one of the arms picked me up by the neck. I panicked for a moment, flailing my arms and legs in every direction. I even screamed. I didn't want to die. I wanted to see the future. I wanted Ruby and Sapphire to be happy together._

_Although they could only just reach, I swung out both my legs, kicking the robot in its ugly face. The robot swayed. Perhaps I dislodged a gyroscope or two. That was my chance. I kicked it again in the same place. Its grip loosened, allowing me pry its talons open. A clam shell door opened on the robot's chest, revealing the barrel of a particle beam raygun. I could see the raygun charging up, glowing brighter and brighter, aimed straight at me. “Oh no you don't,” said furiously, and closed up the barrel with my bare hands._

_The weapon fired, except, its charged particles had nowhere to go. The robot's body was blasted into the mere atoms of which it was created from. All that was left were a pair of legs, two arms and a head, all of which fell to the cockpit floor. “Too low. Terrain,” came the monotone ground proximity warning repeatedly from the cockpit's surround-sound speakers. I turned my attention to the instrument panel. Now that the robot was destroyed, I could focus on trying to level out and save the gunship from crashing. The bleak, radioactive, crater-riddled ground was now in sight through thick clouds of toxic smoke. I sat back down in the nearest cockpit seat, and strapped into the shoulder belts. I felt a reflexive need to grab onto something, but had nothing to grab onto except the sidestick. There was no time or altitude to even attempt to reStart the engines. The gunship's long fuselage in front of me crumpled in flames as it hit the ground at mach 7._

Garnet looked to the floor, then back at Steven. “Woah,” said Steven, mouth agape and in awe of Garnet's war story, “so, what happened after the crash?”

“Not much,” said Garnet, “the gunship had to be written off. But thanks to its design of placing pilots at the rear rather than the front, the fuselage acted as a crumple zone. Thus, I survived. A gem dropship picked me up a few hours later, and I was informed that the battle was over. We won, but at the cost of millions of gems.”

“Ooh, is it my turn to tell Steven what happened to me?” Amethyst shuffled forward eagerly.

“Sure,” Steven smiled, “go ahead.”

_What's the best way to fight robots? That's right, using bigger robots! I was in the 52863rd Detached Armored Division, defending the factories of Crystalite Heavy Industries. Our robots were 15 meters tall and just as wide, equipped with shoulder-mounted ion cannons and detachable fists. We destroyed those lethal white robots by the thousands, but to no real effect because for every robot we killed, another would streak in from the sky, ready to take its place. They just kept coming. And as the battle progressed, our energy and morale was soon stretched thin._

_Powerful prototype transmitters, developed by Crystalite Heavy Industries, sent distress signals up into space. We hoped that alien races might realize what was happening, and help us. Homeworld is isolated, and gems remained away from most of the galactic community. But now everyone was united against the common threat from Krikkit._

_I drove my mech across the narrow peak of a ridge, leading 10 others behind me. It automatically scanned and analyzed the terrain to keep balance. I monitored the information provided by the helmet-mounted display, and the map generated by a vulture drone that circled 1000 feet above. Without warning, we lost the live feed from the map. “Warning, cannot contact drone. Re-connection. Re-connection failed. Running diagnostics,” said a smooth voice in my helmet's earphones, “drone lost.”_

_The loss of our drone meant an ambush was imminent. I armed all available weapons, as did my 10 colleagues. A robot jumped up at one of the gem mechs in our line. I turned my around 180 degrees to see it hugging the cockpit window, punching it open, and readying the particle beam in its chest. Before the robot could fire the weapon, it was punched to the ground and stamped on by a mech beside it. “You okay?” Asked the pilot._

_“No damage detected,” said the pilot of the mech that had been attacked._

_“Stay frosty,” I ordered, “keep your weapons armed. Watch the sides of this ridge. They could be anywhere.” Just then, the mech behind me was disintegrated. Every rivet seemed to dislodge simultaneously, every wire unplugged, and materials snapped and buckled into unrecognizable shapes. The pilot, of course, was also destroyed. It's unlikely her gemstone survived such violent forces._

_I was stunned. Just how destructive could these robots be? I'd underestimated them. Three white robots hurled themselves down from nearby trees, cartwheeling in mid-air. Their particle beams were already aimed at their next target: me. My mech's targeting computer aimed my ion cannons at two of the robots, blasting them into spare parts. But there were three robots, and I had just two cannons. I lunged my mech to the ground, dodging an invisible beam of particles._

_The beam of particles hit the mech behind me as I lunged out of its way. It would've hit the cockpit window, and the pilot wouldn't have felt a thing. The mech fell to its knees, decapitated and smoldering, then exploded._

_That would have been me, had I not lunged out of the way. The pilot's name was Moonstone, and she died in my place. It took me a long time for the guilt from what happened to subside. The robot killed her, not me. I was just carrying out an evasive maneuver. Yet sometimes I wonder what Moonstone would be doing now if she was still alive._

_I've digressed. I had no time to react to Moonstone's death. I locked the robot in the sights of my mech's wrist-mounted ion rifle. Just as I did, I heard another pilot shout through my helmet's speakers, “more robots inbound!” I pulled the trigger, weakening the robot in front of me. I let my mech get back to its feet, and shot twice more, inflicting more damage each time until I was sure it was fully disabled. I then turned the mech 180 degrees to see the battle which had unfolded behind me. Mechanical limbs flew in all directions. I saw explosions, some small, and some large. A white robot destroyed the mech in front of me by amputating its legs and shooting the pilot through the canopy. I was powerless to stop the chaos. I couldn't get a clear shot of the robot until it hopped on top of the debris and aimed its weapon at me._

_My mech tumbled down the side of the ridge. Airbags quickly inflated to cushion any impact that might occur to me. And believe me, they did occur. I was disorientated, Staring at the artificial horizon as it rolled painfully fast. The mech smacked into trees, causing dents and warning lights to illuminate in the cockpit. I wondered if I was dead, realized I wasn't, and wondered what could have caused my mech to fall off that ridge. Had the white robot caused some of my servos or gyroscopes to fail? I dug one of the mech's hands into the ground, slowing its tumbling and allowing it to gain footing. It stood up and the airbags deflated._

_Where my mech stood, there was no evidence at all that Homeworld was in the midst of a violent, and sudden war. I only saw trees, and the trail of dirt in my mech's wake. Except, there was more than one trail. Something had fallen with me. I re-armed all weapons and re-set the targeting computer to auto. The two trails intertwined up as far as I could see. Something had pushed me from the top of that ridge. I spun my mech around in search for whatever was down here with me. If it was hostile and not damaged by the fall, it would have killed me already._

_Behind me stood a stubby khaki mech half the size of my own. It had caterpillar tracks, short arms that wielded missiles and ion cannons. It had a long streamlined cockpit canopy which protruded from the mech's body. This mech wasn't of gem design, I could tell. The glass on the canopy was tinted reflective yellow, meaning I couldn't get a look who was piloting that thing._

_The mech raised an arm up, and a written message appeared on the heads-up display, transmitted to my integrated modular mechanomics system. It looked as though it was hastily translated, but it was readable. The message simply said, 'your distress signal has been answered.' I glanced at the message, then glanced at the khaki mech. I reached for the keyboard and typed on one hand, 'thanks', to the pilot of that khaki mech. It was not translated, though probably not understood._

_The khaki mech aimed a 6-barrel rotary ion cannon up into the trees. I heard the cannon spinning up, reaching adequate firing speed, and shooting a barrage of glowing green bolts into white robots, stained by mud, swinging in from the trees. I tracked the trajectory of those ion bolts, taking aim and firing at the robots that were now swarming us. Trees burned and toppled over. Some disintegrated into sawdust. I didn't stop shooting, maneuvering behind my new-found ally to cover their 6 o'clock. Ten more robots streaked down into the fray like meteorites, our mechs' internal pulse-dopplar radar tracked them, and we launched missiles in unintentional unison. Integrated modular mechanomics shared targeting data. The missiles' contrails intertwined and snaked around one another, destroying three of them. The robots used evasive maneuvers, landing on their feet in craters that leveled trees. They charged at us, but we were ready to punish them with powerful ion bolts. I don't know who was controlling that khaki mech, but whoever it was, they were one hell of a pilot._

_Movement was detected a click to the south. For the first and only time, I saw wheel spin on caterpillar tracks as that mech sped down to meet more robots. I kept up to it easily, of course, my taller mech striding through the trees close behind. Me and that mysterious deft pilot didn't need words to communicate. We both knew what we needed to do, and were at the controls of two incredible machines._

_I saw a white robot dead ahead, damaging it slightly with the ion cannon, scrolled through my melee weapons to the one I was searching for; the mallet! Both my mech's mechanical hands gripped that heavy weapon, and crushed that robot's head as though it were a puny crab. As I did, the khaki mech jumped over mine, launching missiles forward and landing on its already spinning caterpillar tracks. A warning from my targeting computer said: ERROR. OVERLOAD. SUGGEST IMMEDIATE RETREAT._

_That's when I realized I'd underestimated my enemy, and fallen into a trap. These robots weren't as dumb as I thought. They'd lured me and the other pilot into a wasp's nest. A robot jumped, hugging my cockpit canopy, readying the particle beam. The khaki mech grabbed it and shot it to pieces, but the particle beam shot into my mech's shoulder, slicing off the left arm. I raised my mech's right arm, but was knocked to my side._

_I then saw trees falling in a line, and something rising as though emerging from a great ravine. It was white and clean, long and aerodynamic. It stood on six legs, each anchoring and uncoupling from the ground as it walked using four-finger gripping claws. Its legs were segmented for maximum flexibility. At the front of the robotic behemoth was a set of two cameras within a dome-shaped canopy. Particle beam turrets along its cuboid body stood poised to fire. It was as tall as a skyscraper and as long as one of our gunships._

_I'd never seen a white robot like that before, nor had I heard of such a thing even existing. We'd defeated waves of standard white robots, and now were now qualified face the boss. I realized that, to the white robots or their faceless creators, this was was just a game. So be it. If I was in a game, I should play to win. I hoped that boss would have some kind of weak point; perhaps some vital component._

_I lunged, rolling left and right to avoid any particle beam fire, firing my remaining ion cannon to try to get as close as possible. The khaki mech launched its remaining missiles. We didn't slow that boss down. It lifted a clawed metal foot and stamped it down. I rolled again to avoid it, and grabbed hold of that leg with my mech's remaining working hand. The other mech shot into that leg with its ion cannon. The next thing I realized, my mech was lifted into the air and flicked away, landing damaged on the hard ground, knocking over trees as I went. I saw the khaki mech in front of me, firing manically before being pulverized by concentrated fire from all the particle beam turrets. It seemed to fall apart slowly, although it really took a fraction of a second. The cockpit turned to face my direction. The pilot must've been looking straight at me while literally fading away. I wonder if it hurt. And away with my only ally, was the only evidence of being helped by an alien piloting a mech. An alien that fought and died for another planet, for an unknown motive. Whimsical, in a way._

_My mech's self-righting mechanism still worked with one functioning arm. It picked itself up, and I ran while shooting the boss anywhere I could. I frantically dodged any invisible beams that might be hitting me, knowing I could die at any moment. I was flung upwards again by one of the mighty arms that held the heavy machine up. Grabbing for the first thing it could, the mech held the top of the boss._

_It was like standing on a plateau. From atop, the boss looked more like a geological feature than a giant robot. But I didn't forget where I was or become disorientated. I shot into its back while running to the front and selecting the sword. Swords are only effective weapons at close range, but luckily, I was more than close enough to use it. Running, I dug the sword into the robot's back. Sparks flew from a long deep scratch, until my mech was grabbed again by one of the claws. As I was flung away, an ample target for the turrets. I switched on the rockets for the mech's remaining detachable fist, which sped to the wound created by the sword. I saw flames flare up on the robot's back as I fell away._

_My weapons and servos were overheating. I was now defenseless. I swallowed and accepted my fate as I hit the ground again, this time on my side. The airbags deployed, much to my surprise, and I was still conscious to watch the flaming robot topple over. An explosion erupt from the center, cutting it in half. Both halves of the robot also exploded. Debris rained down. I hung my head down and let my body go slack against the shoulder restraints. The self-righting mechanism wouldn't work so I just the mech it lie there._

Steven looked at Amethyst, awe struck. Amethyst finished, “I was helpless against any robots, but no more came after me.”

“And you don't know who was piloting that other mech?” Steven asked slowly. 

Amethyst shook her head, “I don't think that thing was autonomous. It had a cockpit, so it would've had some being inside. Guess it was some friendly badass alien,” she chuckled, “protecting a planet that it's not native to, kinda like us Crystal Gems on Earth.”

“That's right,” said Pearl, “you told me about that battle before, but I never thought of it like that.”

Amethyst turned to Pearl, “so now I guess it's your turn to tell Steven about what happened to you when the white robots attacked.”

“Well, I,” Pearl paused, “it's hardly surviving a crash as mach 7 or piloting a mech with an alien at my side...”

“Aw, but I wanna know!” Steven protested.

“Go on!” Amethyst encouraged, “you told me and Garnet already!”

“The boy must know,” declared Garnet.

Pearl rolled her eyes, turned to Steven and to his delight, said, “alright, I'll tell you.”

_I was a scientist for Crystalite Heavy Industries. I was working miles underground in one of the facility's many bunkers. I was aware of the battle that was happening on and above Homeworld's surface, but was far too busy and isolated to gauge the full extent of the damage and loss of life. I was part of a team of five working in a room the size of an operating theater, dissecting a captured and disarmed robot. It was strapped by diamond chains to a table top, maintenance panels open, sensors disconnected and tangled wires connecting it to our computers._

_We sifted through thousands of lines of code, learning all we could about those machines. We found out who made them, and why. That was when I found a rather alarming discovery, and called my colleagues to crowd around the monitor I was working at, “hey, come look at this!” I said to them, my voice a mixture of excited and concerned of what I might've discovered._

_I found out those robots weren't just following rigid code. We were fighting intelligent, sentient mechanical beings. Those robots could feel fear, pain, and weren't programmed to eliminate all life that didn't originate from Krikkit. Rather, they were acting out of learned hatred. They wanted to kill us, much like an animal wants to kill its prey, and learns just how to do it. They were motivated by fear._

_We became distracted by a sudden alarm. There were thousands of alarms at Crystalite Heavy Industries for the thousands of potential emergencies that could potentially happen. We all knew what this particular alarm was for: the Neutron Stars had become unstable. Crystalite Heavy Industries supplied power to the many cities of Homeworld. The Neutron Stars were constantly monitored and maintained by a crew of technicians, a crew that I had once been a part of before a promotion. I knew they wouldn't become unstable, unless the technicians were dead._

_As if on cue, two soldiers burst through the door, their eyes wide with fear. “The facility is being overrun! Evacuate immediate-!” One of the soldiers shouted, but couldn't finish her sentence as a sharp metal talon cut through her torso. The talon looked just like the one on the robot I had just been dissecting, and sure enough, a robot casually walked up behind her in the doorway. The soldier reverted to her gemstone like a snail retreating to its shell. The robot promptly crushed the gemstone into dust. Its raygun was already visible, but the robot fell to the ion bolts fired by the other soldier._

_I thought I might be safe now that the robot was dead, but two more emerged at the doorway, rayguns poised and arms stretched forwards. The soldier, whose name I still don't know, dropped her ion rifle to save it from pulverization as her body disappeared. The rifle flew across skidded across the floor towards my feet. I dove for it as deadly particle beams filled the room. I looked up to see that all my colleagues were gone, as if they never existed in the first place, as if these terrible events were just one hallucination. I wish they were._

_Trembling, I aimed the ion rifle at the robot. I'd never fired one of those before, but it seemed simple. Safety off, point and click. But my finger wouldn't squeeze the trigger. My vision went blurry as tears streamed down my cheeks. I needed to kill this robot before it killed me, but couldn't bring myself to take another life. The robot stood still, waiting to find out whether or not I'd shoot it. It was mocking me._

_Suddenly a line roughly one milimeter thick appeared horizontally through the robot's upper body, accompanied by the sound of metal slicing through brittle circuits and a the blur of a sword blade striking. I gasped, lowering the rifle as the robot split into two. Its head, shoulders, arms and chest toppled forwards onto the floor, while the rest of it stayed standing for another second, before that section collapsed to its knees, and fell forward._

_Behind where the robot once stood, was Rose Quartz. She took fast, heavy breaths as she strode her tall, wide body into the room. She stepped on what was left of the robots, her feet causing no damage to them. She lowered to her side a pink sword with a knuckle bow and circular guard. “Are you alright?” She asked._

_“I am now,” I stammered._

_Rose stood a few paces away from me and looked around, “the robots killed everyone else in this room, didn't they,” she said gravely. I nodded. “Aw crap! Dammit!” I'm not going to repeat the rest of the expletives that came out of her mouth, sorry Steven. I could tell Rose was frustrated. If she was just a few seconds earlier, my colleagues and the two soldiers might still be alive._

_“Okay,” Rose sighed, “well so long as we're still alive, we've got to evacuate now. Follow me!” She grabbed my arm, yanking me towards the door as I clutched the dead soldier's ion rifle. Lights flickered once we were both out into the corridor. The whole bunker complex quaked, shaking dust from atop of light shades. I heard the muffled booms of explosions high above. “They're getting closer,” muttered Rose, “we need to get to the escape pods on surface. She ran a few paces down the corridor, but I stood still._

_“Come on!” Shouted Rose._

_“I've got to shut down those Neutron Stars before they go supernova!” I shouted back, trying to make my voice audible over the sound of the alarm._

_“Supernova?” Rose walked back to me._

_“If the Neutron Stars aren't shut down within the next, umm, I'd give it 5 minutes, it'll go supernova!” I explained as quickly as I could._

_“That's not good, is it?” Asked Rose._

_“It's not good at all. A supernova from just one of those things would destroy this facility, and three of the nearest cities. You can go to the surface, but I need to shut it down. I know how...”_

_“I'll go with you,” Rose interrupted, “those robots are everywhere, and I'm good at killing them. I'll follow you to the reactor,” she grinned, and I found myself grinning too._

_“Okay,” I Started running the opposite direction to the evacuation route, “this way!”_

_I led Rose, sprinting, to a turbo elevator at the end of the corridor, then pushed the call button with my trembling index finger. “It could be full of robots,” said Rose thoughtfully, “aim that ion rifle and be ready to fire when the doors open.”_

_“Okay,” I said, clearly nervous. A tense moment ensued when the lift's doors slid open. No robots inside._

_“Clear!” Rose declared, and we entered. I typed in the entrance code for the Control Room into a small computer console on the wall to the right of the doors. A the doors were shut and the elevator descended at three times the speed of gravity. Rose and I never felt the G-forces shift thanks to the elevator's tractor beam floor, keeping our feet (and internal organs) firmly where they should be._

_The lift's doors slid back open suddenly. Neither Rose or myself had noticed our descent speed slowing. In front of us was the wide, dark Control Room. It looked much like the cockpit of a spaceship, with seats in front of a control panel of glowing holographic displays and switches. I'd worked in there for so many years, stepping back in was like coming home after a vacation, only to find that my home had been broken into and was about to explode._

_Multiple alarms sounded, with error messages and warnings to accompany them on the displays. “Warning: Neutron Stars 1, 2 and 3 are unstable. Estimated time until supernova is 5 minutes. Please initiate shutdown now,” a calm, friendly pre-recorded message informed us. I sprinted towards the control panel in order to make an attempt at bringing the situation back under control and saving the facility._

_Rose walked towards me, “aren't there supposed to be a team of staff working here?” She asked, as I rushed left and right, pushing holographic buttons and flicking switches._

_“I think they've been pulverized,” I panted._

_“Then where are the robot-” Rose began, as the elevator's doors shut. We both herd the eerie sound of the lift ascending, “that's them!” Rose raised her sword, “they're coming through the elevator! Can you get stable those Neutron Stars?”_

_I sighed, “I'll have to shut them down,” without those Neutron Stars, entire cities would be plunged into darkness. But if I didn't shut them down, entire cities would also be caught in a mighty supernova. I could only imagine the damage that would ensue if all three of them, should a supernova occur. I was able to shut off the supply of fuel to the Neutron Stars, but not able to shut them down. “I'll have to go out there and shut them down manually,” I gestured out of the three Neutron Stars 1.5 miles in diameter, contained within Dyson spheres 2 miles in diameter. The room that contained the Dyson spheres had to be curved upwards in order for technicians to see to the end of it, countering Homeworld's curvature._

_“Shouldn't it be easier to shut those down?” Asked Rose._

_“This facility wasn't designed to be attacked by hoards of lethal white robots. I'd be able to shut them down from here if the control panel wasn't shot up,” I said, frustrated._

_“Okay,” said Rose, “you shut them down. I'll take care of the robots. Hurry!”_

_“If you need to talk to me, you can use the intercom,” I pointed to an intercom beside the control panel, “I'd be able to hear you, but you won't be able to hear me.” I quickly exited on the right of the Control Room, which led to a single-occupant open cockpit maglev car that traveled quickly along the narrow catwalk from the Control Room to the three Dyson spheres. I closed the waist-high door to the maglev, pushed handle the handle forwards and sped silently towards the first Dyson sphere, which contained Star 1._

_I stepped onto the platform, taking a look downwards from the metal catwalk. I couldn't see the floor of the uncreatively-named Dyson Room because of how far down it was. The Dyson spheres' perimeters reached downwards into darkness. I dreaded to think of the pulsing, volatile monsters inside, fed improper diets and now poised for disaster. A single loose screw would be enough to kill both myself and Rose in a shower of charged particles. The Dyson sphere hummed, shook and creaked. As a scientist, I knew that it wasn't supposed to do that._

_Just like my training had prepared me, I pushed buttons and pulled levers on the Dyson sphere's console. The shutdown procedure depends on the conditions, and so meant I had to read the instruments thoroughly. Finally, I was ready to press the big alluring red button in the center of the console. “Neutron Star 1 shutdown successful,” I jumped for joy as the pre-recorded announcement echoed throughout the room._

_I stopped jumping immediately when I heard the same, cheerful pre-recorded computer voice say, “warning: supernovae in thirty seconds from Neutron Stars 2 and 3. Suggest immediate evacuation.”_

_No way was I evacuating. I had gems to save. I grabbed the side of the maglev car, ready to pull myself into the cockpit and shut down the other two Neutron Stars. “Get back here, now!” Rose's frantic voice echoed, louder than any pre-recorded announcement. Shouting back at her was be pointless. Instead, I spoke through gritted teeth without looking back at the control panel where she stood, “not until I'm finished here. I can save us all, damnit!”_

_As if Rose knew what I was thinking, she said in a more empathetic tone, “you can't save everyone. Cut your losses and save yourself. We've already lost a lot today. I don't want to loose you either.” Stupid selfless Rose; she didn't mention saving herself. I gazed at the simple controls for the maglev car. There were four stops on its track: Control Room, Dyson sphere 1 (my location), Dyson sphere 2 and Dyson sphere 3. My finger poised ready to select Dyson sphere 2, yet I knew it would mean certain doom. Rose was right. I took a deep breath, and programmed the maglev car to take me back to the Control Room. Wind rushed in my ears as it picked up speed, and I caught a glimpse of Rose's face showing nothing but relief through the Control Room's window._

_I emerged back through the door, head hanging low. The first thing I saw was three robots sliced to pieces on the floor. Sparks flew sporadically from their mechanical entrails. “Warning: supernovae in twenty seconds from Neutron Stars 2 and 3. Suggest immediate evacuation.” The pre-recorded voice didn't echo this time because I only heard it from a small speaker in the top right corner of the Control Room. However, I did hear a mighty clang echo from within one of the remaining two Dyson spheres. Another one hissed._

_“For once the robots aren't the most of our concerns,” panted Rose as she hurried to the four closed sets of elevator doors, “one of these goes straight to the surface, right?”_

_“Second from the left,” I hurried after her. Rose didn't wait for me to finish my sentence before she hit the call button, causing the doors to slide open straight away._

_“I didn't know which one to call, so I called all of them,” Rose explained as we both worriedly counted down the seconds. In my attempt to save us all, had I doomed myself and Rose? The elevator was racing against time. “Get ready to run when those doors open,” said Rose sternly._

_“Right,” I nodded. And so we ran as soon as the doors opened. The sky above us was black from smoke. Swirling dogfights took place thousands of feet above. Gems and robots alike fell to their deaths. Not a single escape pod had been launched, so I guessed we were the only two survivors of Crystalite Heavy industries. The escape pods' straight wings remained in the folded-back position over their cylindrical fuselages, their nose cones in the upright configuration, and at the launch position on their railguns. Rose sprinted towards the nearest one and jumped into the cockpit. I was right behind her, and slid the cockpit canopy shut. I admit, the sight of Rose in that cramped escape pod cockpit was quite a humorous one. She took up almost two seats, and had to slouch her head forward. It's a good thing I'm skinny._

_The railgun had the escape pod pointed upwards at a 65° angle, which was enough to gain both sufficient altitude and distance to escape the imminent explosion from two supernovae. Its cockpit was designed to be as simple as possible, without holographic displays and a single launch button in what would've been within equal reach of both occupants if Rose wasn't so wide. She hit the launch button before I me._

_With a swift 'shoom', the the escape pod rushed towards the smoke, pinning Rose and I back into our seats. Our peripheral vision was overcome by a yellow flash that would probably have blinded us if we were looking directly at it. Debris and burning gas rushed past the escape pod's canopy. Instead of our speed gradually decreasing as momentum wore off from the railgun launch, the escape pod sped up as a shockwave propelled it out of control. It spun vertically once, then tumbled haphazardly through the sky. In the cloud of smoke it became impossible to know which way was up or down. Thrust nozzles corrected the spin as escape pod rode out the shockwave, now already miles from the facility of which it was launched from._

_I breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the two wings click forwards and lock. Taking hold of the sidestick, it was now under my control. Wind whistled outside as the escape pod became a glider. I said, “okay, okay, we need to find a suitable landing site.” Rose laughed, and also took hold of her sidestick. I lifted an eyebrow, “what's so funny?”_

_“I'm just glad we, well, we survived,” she held out her hand, “I'm Rose Quartz, by the way.”_

_“Nice to meet you, Rose Quartz,” I shook her hand, “I'm Pearl.”_

“Rose was badass,” said Steven, wide-eyed.

“Hmm,” Pearl thinned her lips.

“Oh, and you two, heheh,” Steven finished, and asked “so, what happened, after the battle?”

“2000 years of galactic war,” said Garnet plainly, “and the dark ages that followed. Earth was spared complete destruction because of help from aliens. You guys hadn't even harnessed internal combustion back then. Ancient human civilizations would've been no match for intelligent robots from another planet.”

“I hated the dark ages,” Pearl rolled her eyes, “gems began to fear technology, and shunned its development. The same thing happened on Earth.” Steven thought of what he knew about the dark ages of Europe, and how much science and culture stagnated throughout those centuries.

“Trust humans to make a game out of it,” Amethyst chuckled, “some aliens find it horribly offensive. But you humans just don't give a damn.”

“So, that's why you don't want me to play cricket?” Steven looked a little puzzled.

The three Crystal Gems exchanged glances. They were unsure of who should speak first, until Garnet said, “Steven, we don't want to stop you from playing your game. We just think you should know where it comes from, and decide whether or not you want to play it.”

“Aw shucks,” Steven chuckled, “of course I want to keep playing it. It's fun!”

“Right on, Steven!” Amethyst grinned.

“Amethyst!” Pearl exclaimed, then rolled her eyes and shrugged.

“The war happened a long time ago, why can't we play silly games based on it?” Amethyst responded.

“Time doesn't heal all wounds, but having fun is the best medicine,” said Garnet.

Amethyst jumped up, “I wanna be the umpire, whatever that is,” said Amethyst eagerly.

“Sure! Let's get Connie and Lion, and keep playing. Do you two want to play?” Steven and Amethyst were half way out the front door before they turned back to Garnet and Pearl.

“I don't really, um... No thanks,” said Pearl anxiously.

“Some other time,” Garnet turned her head so her sunglasses caused a cool reflection, “you all have fun, now.”

Garnet and Pearl watched from the wooden deck in front of their house, overlooking the beach as another game of cricket was set up. Steven stood in front of a wicket, hitting a ball with a bat and running between the two wickets for what Pearl thought would be an indefinite amount of time, while Amethyst wore a proud smile under the shade from a white umpire hat. She turned to Garnet and asked worriedly, “do you think the white robots will ever come back?”

“I do,” said Garnet with a single nod.

Pearl was taken aback, “you do?!”

“Sure. Those robots are as diligent and whimsical as the beings who created them. Say, if a Krikkit warship that went missing turned out to be just missing...”

“It would take them a long time to rebuild and become an effective fighting force,” Pearl retorted.

“And the war was a long time ago,” said Garnet, then looked back at Steven, who was still playing on the beach, “and if they come back, I fear we won't defeat them Steven's help.”


End file.
